The open-air carriage allowed the wind to breeze through the apprentices while they traveled at high speed, but a minor wind-path magic spell protected them from being exposed to the intense cold air and the risk of being flown off from the carriage.
“Whoa…” The apprentices released a moan of amazement as the convoy passed through a thick foliage, arriving at an expansive clearing. The existence of small water bodies all over the place defined this artificial meadow as a shallow marshland, but their attention is taken elsewhere.
What can be seen from their position is an enormous facility that was beyond their wildest imagination. It is a military fortress with 20-meter tall dark gray concrete walls, with myriad gun barrels of various sizes decorating it. This enormous star-shaped fortress stands out like a sore thumb amongst the artificial man-made clearing surrounding it.
“This is our destination… Hayabusa Garrison Station, a small military base that also served as a train station.” Kurogane announced to the apprentices in response to their amazement.
The apprentice's tired face seemingly gleamed in excitement. This experience is truly eye-opening. The people from frontier villages have never seen a beautifully constructed wall, nevertheless a military one with functionality as the core design.
“Mister Kurogane, who are those people?” One of the youths pointed at the group of people barely outside the fortress’ walls. Although it’s almost dark, they can see clearly that they aren’t a part of the military since they’re not wearing uniforms.
“They are my friends…” Kurogane specified, “I mean, they are fellow Hunters of the Association. We are not the only group who took missions in this area. Some of us Hunters have to rely on the Shinkansen to travel far away for missions with long duration. So, during the Shinkansen’s arrival, a lot of Hunter teams will return to the station-fortress.”
Mordred reveals a faint smile as he enjoys the evening breeze licking through his face. With the apprentice's questions and Kurogane’s explanations adding to the background ambiance, he enjoyed this feeling after a long battle. Of course, as the Magus of Death; the most murderous Magus of Holy Terra, he’d prefer a brutal war where he can commit genocide to his heart’s content, but that doesn’t take away the enjoyment of peaceful times after an exhausting battle.
With their pace, they quickly reached the gate. There weren't any inspections or the need to stop at all since the advanced party had taken care of the procedures, the convoy was immediately allowed to enter with the gate open wide.
When the carriage’s wheel meets with concrete roads, the apprentices can finally enjoy a smoother journey.
After passing through the first checkpoint which was just the walls, the apprentices could now see the gray camo military uniform-clad soldiers of Hartina Kingdom, manning the station-fortress. While most of them are armed with railguns, some have swords or other melee weapons on their waist or back.
“Due to the number of rank 1 Officials and the possibility of rank 2 Lords who served as commanding officers in this military outpost, there’s a lot of [Luminar Ward Pylons] scattered around the fortress. It’s those semi-translucent crystalline constructs that absorb the ambient radiation produced by high-rank cultivators.” Kurogane explained as he pointed out, letting the apprentice know what he was referring to.
Mostly having the appearance of a floating pillar of crystals, each pylon will absorb a copious amount of radiation before the accumulated energy needs to be extracted. On the main road, these pylons were similar to streetlights, projecting a safety haven for apprentices and non-cultivators. As of now, the pylons have already accumulated a large amount of radiation. Under the darkness of dusk, the pylons were shining brightly in different colors depending on what type of radiation was being held within.
With some fine-tuning, the colors of the pylons can be adjusted, so as of now, the difference in hue isn’t too contrasting.
Behind the eye-catching pylons, the buildings are mostly made out of concrete, metal, and glass, with a touch of modern look to them. As Mordred had expected, this isn’t merely a military station. Due to the size of Morgen World comparable to the typical solar system in the Milky Way galaxy, a ‘small’ military station in Hartina Kingdom could be likened to a city, with over a million mortals, apprentices, and Officials wandering about, living their life to the fullest.
Bakery, general stores, inns, blacksmiths, alchemists, libraries, and all sorts of public facilities can be seen as the convoy passed through the main street. Other than some strategic military supplies that they received from the Kingdom’s capital, Hayabusa Garrison Station is somewhat self-sustaining, having apprentices or Officials gathering up resources from the local Resource Points.
However, as one traveled away from the ‘civilian zone’ and began traversing military areas, the presence of pylons became scarce. In some facilities, there weren’t even pylons, which prevented the said building from being accessed by those with a lacking cultivation base.
Nevertheless, the fortress-station’s civilian zone is a bonafide modern city. The apprentices who had never seen multi-storey buildings were amazed, but they were flabbergasted when the convoy reached the destination.
Stretching across a considerable expanse, the building stood as a commanding architectural marvel, its sheer height and length a testament to modern engineering. Seemingly consisting of concrete, the structure’s imposing facade bore the indelible marks of the military, while a symphony of steel girders and glass panels formed a mesmerizing dance of industrial elegance. The building seemed to cleave the very core of the fortress as if the fortress was built with it as the center.
“We’ve arrived!” Kurogane muttered as he stepped down from the carriage. “Get your things and let’s move.” He waited for a while before the apprentices who had yet to finish their amazement assembled.
Led by the defender of Twin Helix, carriage 29’s passengers, including Mordred, slowly made their way into the facility’s entrance. They grouped up with the other carriage passengers of the convoy. On the way, he saw some familiar faces, including Kaishin and his brute wyvern who seemed to suffer from laceration wounds. In any case, the whole convoy had regrouped into a singular entity. The surviving 300 out of the 700 apprentices from this group were being led by eight teams of Official Hunters.
The train station is filled to the brim with people going in and out, the crowd varies in age, race, and even clothing. While most of the people wore exotic Hunter apparel which pursued performance over all else, some wore it for purely oriental aesthetics. Naturally, there are all sorts of races busying about in the station. Some were humanoid bipedal, while a minority of them were enslaved medium-class beasts of burden, such as wyverns, Two-Tailed Foxes, lizards, warhorses, and many others.
However, when Mordred saw a 2.5-meter-tall Longma amongst the beasts being led by a handler, he was surprised.
Hartina Kingdom has some beef with the Xin Empire. There’s no special reason for this, neighboring countries will always have some level of friction against each other. Due to being on the same continent, however, the conflict between the two nations isn’t too strong, it could be simply described as competitive rivalry. However, Longma is the trademark mount of the Xin Empire. Having a Longma as a steed is one of the highest honors in the Xin Empire since the Patron Deity of the Xin could be considered as an oriental dragon, a species of Long.
That being said, any Longma in Morgen World is highly regulated, and their numbers are limited.
Just as he was thinking about the owner of the Longma, the group stepped through the colossal archway. Every apprentice was enveloped by a sense of sheer grandeur that their sheltered villager selves had never seen before. It was as though they had truly understood how minuscule they were.
Before them, a train platform stretched like a runway leading towards the waiting behemoth. The platform’s surface, like a mosaic of polished tiles inlaid with shimmering gems and precious metals, reflected the light of the station in a dazzling display that seemed to mimic the starry skies on a dark night. Luminescent rune patterns danced across the tiles, tracing ethereal lines while holographic images guided the passengers to their destination.
The air was charged with the stench of mana and radiation, but the density was highly regulated, enough to barely tingle along the skins of mortals.
This was no ordinary station, it was a crossroad between unsophisticated barbarism and advanced civilization, a nexus where the threads of different worlds converged. The architectural marvels of the station bore testament to this cosmic crossroad, with spires that seemed to be woven from gems and Luminar Ward Pylons that pulsed with inner radiance.
Holding back their gasp of amazement, they advanced slowly as the train came into view. These country bumkins couldn’t help but feel a mixture of astonishment and trepidation.
The train was a mechanical behemoth that defied their understanding of the world. Each car rose impossibly high, stories stacked upon stories, creating a vertical labyrinth that seemed more suited for a castle than a mode of transportation. At the very least, there should be five floors, the windows-like slits were proof of this conjecture. The distance between each floor is around five to six meters, which adds up to around 25 to 30 meters in height alone.
The train’s high-tech boxy exterior was adorned with intricate carvings of rune arrays in constellation-like formations as if the very skin of the train was a canvas of an Archmage. Though, the large-scale defensive spell directly carved onto the train was not the work of a single Archmage, it should be a ritual-type spell that can only be made by the joint hands of dozens, perhaps hundreds of mages in tandem.
Considering the apprentice couldn’t even see the hidden arrangement of the defensive ritual spells, they can only appreciate the spaceship-like futuristic design of the train. In the face of this arcane-mechanical monstrosity, the sensation of being infinitely small was inescapable as people looked very miniscule when they stood next to the train.
Currently, this futuristic, wheel-less train is on maintenance. A copious amount of mages, perhaps refinement-path experts, are inspecting, repairing, or performing general maintenance. If not for the doors allowing passengers to board and exit the gigantic vehicle, it would seem like the corpse of a large-class metal-path beast being swarmed by ants.
“This is the Shinkansen,” Kurogane elaborated happily as the convoy picked up speed once more. “Originally, the Shinkansen was Galatreon’s orbital elevator. However, after new generations of space elevators were invented by Galatreon’s greatest minds, the Shinkansen was deemed out of service. After being retrofitted for horizontal movement, every Shinkansen in existence is handed down to Galatreon’s core allies. Most of them ended up in the hands of our kingdom, but a small minority were given to the Xin Empire, Kaiserreich, and even the Union in the Seas of Eternal Winters got a piece.”
An apprentice raised her hand, wanting to inquire further. From her body language alone, everyone could tell that she was not a combatant. With a nudge from Kurogane, she expressed her question, “I’m quite familiar with trains, but why can’t we see any rail? Shouldn’t a train have rails like how a carriage has wheels?”
A member of Wind Chaser, obviously a mage from his apparel, interjected to answer the apprentice’s question. “That’s because the Shinkansen is not a normal train. Instead of having a physical rail, it treads upon a holographic one, a rail that is made purely out of information current.”
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Kurogane nodded, affirming the man’s answer. “That’s right. For a vehicle this size, its mere presence would disturb the local environment. Considering the movement of large-class and giant-class beasts is simply a factor that is beyond our control, having a permanent, physical route isn’t viable by any means, especially at this level of distance. The destination has been set, but the route wouldn’t be that inflexible. Experts will assess the risk of the previous path and if it is deemed dangerous or too close to a giant-class beast’s territory, the route will be altered accordingly.”
“Giant-class beast?” Another apprentice who’s more interested in beast than train interjected. “How big are they?”
“Very big!” Another official hunter, this time a member of Savage Moon, answered the youth’s question. “Giant-class beasts is the representation of a natural disaster. The smallest giant-class beast is a Desolate Beast, they are as big as a moon.” He made an exaggerated gesture using his hands, “Hmm,” he paused, thinking that these apprentices couldn’t imagine the size of a moon up close, “Maybe a mountain range? Yeah, they are so big that it couldn’t fit in your sight!”
“What are orbital elevators?” Another apprentice, a boy with the face that screams ‘not the sharpest tool in the shed, or perhaps, not even sharp at all’ asked.
“It’s like a carriage, but instead of taking us to someplace far away, the carriage allowed us to pierce the nine-tiered skies and reach for the Boundless Astral Realm above!”
“Wouldn’t that be heresy?”
“Nope, our kingdom’s Patron Deity, the Kyuubi, doesn’t teach us not to reach for the skies. Maybe if you’re a believer of one of the Sacred Alliance’s churches, but we don’t see anything wrong with wanting to explore beyond the nine-tiered heavens.”
Hearing the exchange between apprentices who wanted to know more and official hunters who wanted to show off their knowledge, Mordred nodded in acknowledgment while cross-checking some of their rhetoric with his memories. Morgen World is far more dangerous compared to his homeworld, Holy Terra. The natural response to a Desolate Beast’s presence is not to fight it, but to get away. They are simply that dangerous.
While hearing their conversation, Mordred scanned the Shinkansen. It was as the official Hunter had said, this was originally an orbital elevator in Galatreon. Due to the unique condition of the skies of Morgen World, physical rail wouldn’t be a great choice. Instead of allowing the numerous fliers that plagued the nine-tiered heavens to accumulate some level of damage now and then, Galatreon invented a type of information-rail: a literal holo-rail that lacked tangibility.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t completely erase the fact that giant-class beasts are simply one of the most dangerous threats in the world. It is the primary reason why stretching logistic networks over a wide area has become inefficient and dangerous, thus limiting the amount of ‘civilized’ regions that could support intelligent life in Morgen World.
While Mordred was affirming his knowledge with whatever the official Hunters were uttering, they reached their destination: one of the myriad gates of the Shinkansen.
Its sheer size allowed an extremely large amount of people and supplies to come through. The reason why the platform is really big is simply because they were design requirements. According to Mordred’s memory, a Shinkansen only docked at a small facility like Hayabusa Garrison Station for a few hours before they needed to proceed. After all, the number of stations they needed to get through was a lot.
As of now, a copious amount of men and resources are entering and exiting the Shinkansen, so they are forced to wait in line.
While waiting for their turn, Mordred could see a red-haired beauty whose left eye was being bandaged coming over. Seeing Sakuya in her non-combat apparel was a sight to behold but Mordred threw away the useless thoughts as he waved to her.
“You’re here!” She hugged Mordred the moment she reached him. “I’ve been worried sick.”
“It’s okay.” Mordred pointed at Kurogane who interacted with the other apprentices. “He has been helping me a lot. Without him, we would’ve died.”
He considered this moment as a great way to distract himself. He exchanged pleasantries with Sakuya while asking some questions related to their future journey. “How far are we going with the train?”
“A few million kilometers probably…” Sakuya touched her chin while pondering, looking for a better comparison since ‘Satoru’ probably isn’t familiar with the concept of numbers above a hundred. “With the speed of the Shinkansen, we'll reach our destination in around a few days. Don’t worry about it.”
“Oh?” Mordred revealed an intrigued expression. “Can you tell me about the Shinkansen, Miss Sakuya? I wanted to ask Mister Kurogane just now, but my voice was drowned out by the other apprentices.”
“Sure,” Sakuya shrugged, the information he desired was common sense for Hunters, anyway. “I heard that the Great Archmage named this train as Shinkansen due to his inspiration that he came across in a small distant world, it has the meaning of ‘bullet train’.” As if she knew Mordred wanted to ask more, she elaborated, “You must be thinking, why is it named bullet train, considering that it doesn’t look like a bullet? Well, it's actually because the train can move at the speed of a bullet.”
“But… even I know bullets aren't faster than Mister Kenji…”
“Hahah, I haven’t finished yet.” Sakuya patted his head. “The ‘bullet’ I’m referring to is the one that is shot through a rank 2 railgun, not the likes of your revolver, so the train’s maximum speed should be around Mach 10 to 15, give and take. Oh, Mach speed is the speed of sound so if you multiply it by 10 to 15… it would be very fast! At that speed, your mortal bones would be shredded by air friction alone, so that’s where Galatreon’s magitech comes into play.”
“The Shinkansen is equipped with inertia dampeners, strong enough to mitigate force up to 40 G-force, which is around 10-12 Mach speed…” Realizing she had started to utter technical terms to an uneducated apprentice, she corrected her words. “I meant… the passengers wouldn’t feel anything at all even when the train accelerates to its fullest potential, so you can rest assured.”
At this point, their turn to enter the Shinkansen has arrived. The moment Mordred’s feet touched the mechanical behemoth's floor, a three-dimensional map of a small area around him quickly formed. It is as he had expected, this ‘train’ is more spaceship than an actual train, with winding corridors and expansive rooms stacked upon each other.
“We need to go to our assigned room, let’s go.” The official Hunters, Sakuya included, began leading the apprentices towards their designated area.
While the apprentices were revealing gazes of surprise and amazement at seeing the high-tech interior, some of the passersby who seemed to be in the same condition as them began whispering amongst each other.
“This car is reserved by the Hunter Association to house all the potential new blood, so all of you here are friends…” Sakuya smiled, “or rivals, depending on your perspective.”
They stopped at a large assembly hall that leads to many corridors. Just as Sumire was about to split the apprentices into groups and allocate their rooms, a commotion occurred from where they came from, forcing everyone to turn their heads back toward the source.
There is a 2.5-meter tall power armor walking towards Sumire’s group, the figure towering over everyone else in the crowd. The most memorable features of the said armor are its inconsistency and asymmetric design. It was as if the power armor was made out of junk, a cacophony of broken parts taken from other machines. The most eye-catching parts of the power armor are located on the left side of its rear where a metallic skeletal wing is folded, while its head is being covered by a dark hood that covers its face in a shadowy veil.
Next to the armor is a big-breasted, petite girl barely 1.5 meters tall. Her eyes glimmer in prismatic colors, with purple being the most dominant hue. She has short purple hair with a blue hue on the edge. Her skintight bodysuit reveals a runic pattern similar to electronic circuits, but a closer inspection reveals that it wasn’t a simple circuit but a millimeter-sized runes being weaved so densely packed that it has the shape of a circuit.
“Is that the boy?” The petite woman pointed towards Mordred as she walked beside the power armor.
The power armor nodded as it went through the crowd, ignoring the greetings of other hunters. The petite woman separated from the armor midway to approach Mordred.
Next to him, Sakuya offered a polite greeting to the new arrival. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, Ayame. Have you been doing well?”
Ayame, the person in question, sighed heavily. “Haah… I’m tired, the captain has been driving me crazy.” She dropped her shoulders, along with her tense expression, seemingly resigned to her fate. “Sakuya-sis, let’s take a bath together later. For now, the captain wanted to speak with this boy. Priority level ‘Zero’, she said.”
Sakuya raised her eyebrows, surprised. “Huh…” She patted Mordred’s head. “Well, it seems like you’re needed elsewhere. This is Ayame, the mecha pilot that I’ve told you about. Our captain wanted to talk to you, so you should follow her. I’ll come and fetch you later after she’s done with you.”
Seeing Mordred just standing there in silence, Sakuya shook his shoulders. “Satoru, are you alright?”
Realizing what he had done, Mordred woke up from his stupor, “Y- yeah. I’m sorry, Miss Ayame is… I don’t know where to look.” He averted his gaze down below, hiding his shock due to the bloodline reaction by adopting a facade of shame.
Ayame doesn’t seem to mind his ‘mistake’ of inspecting her massive rack. “Anyway,” he spared a glance towards everyone in the hall, “I don’t see Katyusha. Is she dead?”
“Sort off.” Sakuya gives a signal to Kenji who quickly brings a black backpack on his back.
“Princess, she’s in this bag.” Kenji comes running, dropping the insulated bag next to Ayame. From the way his muscles relaxed after dropping the bag, and the loud thud when it dropped despite being muffled by the bag, it must’ve weighed a ton.
“Hmm.” Ayame simply lifts the insulated bag onto her back with one hand as if she doesn’t feel the weight. “Alright, the captain needs me. Kenji-bro, let’s binge-watch some anime later. Bye-bye…” She turned back, following the captain’s footsteps while leading Mordred.
“Take care, princess!” Kenji waved, before looking at Sakuya. “‘Priority level: ‘zero’, isn’t that on the same level as when we found a minor inheritance of the Great Archmage?”
Sakuya shrugged.
…
Through the metallic corridors and stairs that are highly similar to a spaceship’s, Mordred was led to the top floor. The room in front of him seemed to be highly secure as Ayame needed to type in four sets of passwords and it also required all sorts of biometric data before the door opened.
Psshh!! A stream of frost wind was exhaled from the door.
“Captain, are you using liquid nitrogen again?” Ayame made a gesture as if typing into empty space. Following her action, a translucent energy shield flared to life, protecting Mordred from the cold.
Naturally, Mordred can’t see anything inside the room since it was filled with frosty mist. He is being led by Ayame who pulls his arm, the door closes automatically behind them. “Sorry about this, the captain is currently taking a liquid nitrogen bath to cool down her computation cores. Usually, Katyusha would be responsible for helping her, but she hasn’t been revived yet.”
Reaching a location clear of frosty mist, he could see the surroundings. This room can be considered a penthouse as the station’s roof can be seen from the seemingly transparent roof of the room.
“Wait one moment, I’ll wipe this away.” Once more making a typing gesture onto the air, she activates a minor method that condenses the frosty mist into a cube of ice, before throwing it carelessly onto the floor.
With the mist cleared, Mordred could see the room’s layout. From training equipment, and armor, to a refining station, he quickly realized that this must be a cultivation room typically used by Hunters. In one of the corners, there’s the power armor from back then, standing next to a makeshift bathtub, with a pair of feet belonging to a petite girl peeking through.
Ayame approached the bathtub as she reported, “Captain, I brought him here.”
A small hand covered in frost perked up from inside the bath, making a waving motion.
“As you wish. They’ve put Katyusha in this bag. Please don’t hesitate to inform me if you need anything else.” Ayame offered a bow before leaving.
After Ayame’s departure, the deafening silence compelled Mordred to raise his guard. This training room is fortified with an array of information-blockade methods. Even the utilization of psychometry would yield limited insight. The same holds true for clairvoyance, it would offer minimal intel. Additionally, his passive sonar, which operates by detecting vibration through touch, has not been functioning well since entering the room. Simply calling this room ‘airtight’ is an understatement.
“My name is Yukikaze Shion, I am the captain of Twin Helix,” Shion introduced herself while standing up from the bathtub, spilling liquid nitrogen everywhere. Her visage is small, barely 140 centimeters tall while having modest proportions. There is no clothing covering her extremely pale skin but most of her skin reveals mechanical body parts, hinting at her lack of biological tissues.
“Among the Nine Great Elemental Planes of Morgen World, what color came first to your mind?” She inquired, her short purple hair swaying with her movement, while her mechanical purple eyes closely inspected Mordred.
The question shook Mordred to the core. It was as if the query itself served as a catalyst, conjuring forth a cascade of memories from the depth of his soul. Each memory unfurled like a series of vivid tapestries, laden with crucial information to unravel fragments of his past.
“Hahah…” Mordred chuckled freely under her gaze, his guard lowered. “Twin Helix’s Cultivation Food, Soul Contract, arrangement, and most importantly, the presence of Murasaki Ayame… It’s all coming together.” He started to approach the bathtub without fear. “I am… Black!” he replied with confidence.